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Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Regional geography
1) This is a comprehensive book on India's socio-economic transformation after economic liberalization. 2) This book contains updated vital data on all macroeconomic indicators. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of development studies and political economy across UK and USA.
This book, first published in 1984, provides a wealth of original evidence that explores not only the impact of the Vietnam War on the beliefs of American leaders - the 'lessons' they believed had been learnt by Americans from the conflict in Vietnam.
Karim examines the changes and continuity of Indonesia’s foreign policy in the post-authoritarian era, under presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo. Indonesia conceptualised and aimed to adopt four principle roles after 2004 – being a voice for developing countries; being a regional leader; being an advocate for democratic and human rights; and being a bridge-builder. These roles, however, were by no means stable, and were constantly being negotiated and contested. Karim analyses the contested nature of Indonesian foreign policy, and the limits this places on consistency in enacting these roles. He highlights two drivers for such limitations – conflicting role conceptions, and state fragmentation. He develops this argument based on four case studies of Indonesia’s engagement in human rights governance and trade governance at both regional and global levels. Essential reading for students and scholars of Indonesia’s foreign policy, that will also be of substantial value to those studying policy in Southeast Asia more broadly.
The "Russian Idea" in International Relations identifies different approaches within Russian Civilizational tradition — Russia’s nationally distinctive way of thinking — by situating them within IR literature and connecting them to practices of the country’s international relations. Civilizational ideas in IR theory express states’ cultural identification and stress religious traditions, social customs, and economic and political values. This book defines Russian civilizational ideas by two criteria: the values they stress and their global ambitions. The author identifies leading voices among those positioning Russia as an exceptional and globally significant system of values and traces their arguments across several centuries of the country’s development. In addition, the author explains how and why Russian civilizational ideas rise, fall, and are replaced by alternative ideas. The book identifies three schools of Russian civilizational thinking about international relations – Slavophiles, Communists, and Eurasianists. Each school focuses on Russia’s distinctive spiritual, social, and geographic roots, respectively. Each one is internally divided between those claiming Russia’s exceptionalism, potentially resulting in regional autarchy or imperial expansion, and those advocating the Russian Idea as global in its appeal. Those favoring the latter perspective have stressed Russia’s unique capacity for understanding different cultures and guarding the world against extremes of nationalism and hegemony in international relations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Russian foreign policy, Russia–Western relations, IR theory, diplomatic studies, political science, and European history, including the history of ideas.
This volume describes the unique development of Central Asia as defined by its landlocked geography. Particular attention is paid to the achievements and challenges of the region's post-Soviet economic and political transformation, as well as to its relationship with the participants in the New Great Game - Russia, China and the West. Located as it is in the geographical centre of booming Asia, and with the opportunity to become a key logistics bridge connecting the world's largest economies, Central Asia is well placed for rapid development. However, the region faces a range of complex problems that are explained and analysed in the volume. The Eurasian powers that encircle Central Asia look certain to become the engines of global economic growth, but how will this affect the region? Will Central Asia join the powerful locomotive of history, or will it remain on the sidelines?
This book explores the myriad issues that play out in the upstream petroleum industry of Ghana from a legal perspective. Focusing on Ghana as an emerging petroleum country, Thomas Kojo Stephens begins by examining whether the existing constitutional framework will be effective in governing the expanding oil and gas sector. Drawing on various approaches proffered by other experts in the field, Stephens looks at possible institutional structures that could be put in place and juxtaposes these ideas with the experience of Ghana to test the efficacy of these proposals. He also explores the types of contractual frameworks currently implemented in Ghana for comparison with other emerging petroleum economies, examining the barriers to effectiveness, novel provisions that must be incorporated and lessons learned from other regions. Finally, the book highlights how vital it is for the Ghanaian State to monitor the use of petroleum revenue and make ethical investment decisions that prioritise the interests of Ghanaian citizens. Upstream Oil and Gas in Ghana will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy law and policy, oil and gas management and African Studies more broadly, as well as those working in the upstream petroleum industry.
This pioneering monograph examines how culture informs popular understandings and experiences of mental health in East Asia, as well as providing resolutions for the future. Questions about mental health problems have gained new urgency as their consequences are growing more visible in East Asia. Yet, our understanding, funding, and evidence has not kept pace. Anson Au explores the social and psychological concepts, and network structures that make up the blueprint of East Asian cultures and untangles their myriad of influences on how people think, feel, and trust with respect to mental health experiences. Chapters explore themes such as cultural beliefs about mental health, the role of social support and social media, and mental health stigma. Drawing on the latest quantitative evidence, network science, and novel qualitative data, this book paints a portrait of mental health in the region and articulates culturally sensitive policies and practices tailored for East Asian cultures that improve mental health experiences.
This volume offers valuable anthropological insight into urban Africa, covering a range of cities across a continent that has become one of the fastest urbanizing geographic areas of the globe. Consideration is given to the structures, social formations, and rhythms that constitute the definition of an African city, town, or urban space, and to current concepts for thinking about African cities in the twenty-first century. The contributors examine topics including notions of belonging, the effects of globalization, colonialism, and transnationalism on African urban life, the cultural dimensions of infrastructure and public resources, mobility, labor issues, spatial organization, language, and popular culture trends, among other themes. The book reflects on how the ethnography of urban Africa fits within anthropology and urban studies, and on new theoretical concepts and methodologies that can be created through anthropological fieldwork in African cities. It will be of particular interest to scholars and students from anthropology, African studies and urban studies, as well as sociology and geography.
China’s emergence as an aid donor in Africa has caught global attention, with China’s activity being viewed as the projection of soft power of a neo-colonialist kind in an international relations context. This book, which focuses on China’s education aid - government scholarships, training, Confucius Institutes, dispatched teachers, etc. – reveals a much more complicated picture. It outlines how the divide between the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education hinders China’s soft power projection, how much of China’s aid is bound up with an education-for-economic-growth outlook, mirroring China’s own recent experiences of economic development, and how China’s aid, prioritized to reflect the commercial sector’s interests, is out of step with most international development aid, which is dominated by education agendas and the campaigns of international organizations and traditional donors, which leaves China easily exposed to the charge of neo-colonialism. It emphasizes the international development cooperation architecture as an open system by which both traditional donors and Southern countries transform.
Journeys to a Graveyard examines the descriptions provided by eight Russian writers of journeys made to western European countries between 1697 and 1880. The descriptions reveal the mentality and preoccupations of the Russian social and intellectual elites during this period. The travellers' perceptions of western European countries are treated here as an ambivalent response to a civilization with which Russia was belatedly coming into close contact as a result of the imperial ambition of the Russian state and the westernization of the Russian elites. The travellers perceived the most advanced European countries as superior to Russia in terms of material achievement and the maturity and refinement of their cultures, but they also promoted a view of Russia as in other respects superior to the western nations. Heavily influenced from the late eighteenth century by Romanticism and by the rise of nationalism in the west, they tended to depict European civilization as moribund. By this means they managed to define their own emergent nation in a contrastive way as having youth and promising futurity.
The Forgotten Appeasement of 1920 examines a turning point in East European history: the summer of 1920, when Lenin's Soviet Russia decided to challenge the Versailles system and launch a military attack on the continent. The outcome of this attack might have been the occupation of all of Poland and East Central Europe, and a Red Army sweep further west. This book probes the British-Soviet negotiations and diplomatic operations behind the scenes. Professor Nowak uses hitherto unexamined documents from Russian and British archives to show how (and why) top British politicians were ready to accept a new Russian imperial control over the whole of Eastern Europe. Nowak unravels this previously untold story of that first and forgotten appeasement, stopped only by the Polish military victory over the Red Army. His excellent historical craftsmanship and new sources contribute to the book's quality, filling up a lacuna in contemporary historiography. This book will appeal to researchers of geopolitical affairs and the Great Powers, the history of Poland, and the political mentality of Western elites. It will also be of interest to university students and tutors, scholars of history and international relations and - thanks to the book's brisk and fascinating narrative - amateur historians and history aficionados.
This book explores food in India and its evolution from pre-historic times to contemporary food trends while highlighting the intersections between culture, rituals, environment and the economy with food, ingredients and eating practices. It looks at the history of food and food preferences in India by studying historical, medicinal and religious texts. The book analyses preferences and taboos from a social, anthropological, cultural, political and economic perspective, mapping how food practices influence and are influenced by religion, production and distribution, ecology and social class. It also examines consumption practices, problems with food production, agricultural distress, food and farming reforms, globalization of food, the adoption of sustainable practices and the future of farming, diets and eating. Engaging and comprehensive, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, political studies, development studies and food studies.
This book explores food in India and its evolution from pre-historic times to contemporary food trends while highlighting the intersections between culture, rituals, environment and the economy with food, ingredients and eating practices. It looks at the history of food and food preferences in India by studying historical, medicinal and religious texts. The book analyses preferences and taboos from a social, anthropological, cultural, political and economic perspective, mapping how food practices influence and are influenced by religion, production and distribution, ecology and social class. It also examines consumption practices, problems with food production, agricultural distress, food and farming reforms, globalization of food, the adoption of sustainable practices and the future of farming, diets and eating. Engaging and comprehensive, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, political studies, development studies and food studies.
A History of Rwanda: From the Monarchy to Post-genocidal Justice provides a complete history of Rwanda, from the precolonial abanyiginya kingdom, through the German and Belgian colonial periods and subsequent independence, and then the devastating 1994 genocide and reconstruction, right up to the modern day. Based on extensive archival research, this book provides new insights and corrects many popular stereotypes about Rwanda, aiming to go beyond the polarized and heated debates focused on the genocide and the events that followed. Readers will get a clear and broad picture of Rwanda's history and the social and political contexts that have defined the county from the pre-colonial period onwards. Embedding Rwanda's history in the regional context, this book avoids simple moral judgements and instead shows where and when Rwanda differed from its neighbours and how the country's history fits into larger debates about colonialism, genocide, ethnicity, race and development. Offering a full and balanced exploration of Rwanda's rich and paradoxical history, this book will be an important read for researchers and students of African history, genocide studies, transitional justice, colonialism, and political and social anthropology.
This book examines the issues of ecological crisis and sustainable development through critical reading of literary texts. By analysing writings of Rabindranath Tagore, Amitav Ghosh, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hannah Arendt, and Lawrence Buell, it discusses themes like oriental representations of ecological consciousness; environmental evocations; misogyny and its postmodern creations; tracing nature's footprints in English literature; statelessness and consequent environmental refugees; ecocriticism and comics; and, absolute trust in the goodness of the earth. The volume argues that within the ambit of debates between ecological threats and socio-economic concerns, culture plays a vital role particularly in relation to parameters such as identity and engagement, memory and projection, gender and generations, inquiry and learning, wellbeing and health. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of cultural studies, English literature, social anthropology, gender studies, sustainable development, environmental studies, ecological studies, development studies, and post-colonial studies.
Living with Diabetes and Uncertainty in Cairo offers an ethnographic exploration of the interactions of two different understandings of type-2 diabetes: one related to the notion of ḍaghṭ, translated as “pressure” or “stress,” and another related primarily to obesity. The book is set in Egypt but draws links to a diabetes clinic in Denmark and a multinational medical company, as well as engaging with international diabetes research and guidelines. It tells a story of uncertainty, not only among people in Cairo, but also within medical research, and considers what uncertainty may generate in both bodies and societies at large. The chapters provide valuable insight into the lives of those in Cairo who are diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, and explore how those lives are linked to global movements. The book ultimately reflects on the question of what is overlooked and why in prevention strategies and treatments of type-2 diabetes in Egypt. It will be of particular interest to scholars of anthropology, global and public health, and the Middle East and North Africa.
The book examines how the contemporary Indian situation poses a strict theoretical challenge to Habermas's theorization of the public sphere and employs the method of samvada to critically analyze and dissect its universalist claims. It invites the reader to consider the possibility of imagining a normative Indian public sphere that is embedded in the Indian context-in a native and not nativist sense-to get past the derivative language of philosophical and political discourses prevalent within Indian academia. The book proposes that the dynamic cooperative space between Indian political theory and contemporary Indian philosophy is effectively suited to theorize the native idea of the Indian public sphere. It underlines the normative need for a natively theorized Indian public sphere to further the multilayered democratization of public spheres within diverse communities that constitute Indian society. The book will be a key read for contemporary studies in philosophy, political theory, sociology, postcolonial theory, history, and media and communication studies.
This book investigates the ways in which the war on terror has transformed the postcolonial state in Africa. Taking American intervention in Islamic education in Uganda as the entry point, the book demonstrates how state control over Islamic truth production and everyday Muslim life has increased. During the colonial period, the Muslims in Uganda were governed in two ways: partly as lesser citizens within the Christian-dominated civil sphere and partly as members of a distinct Muslim domain. In this domain, a local system of Islamic education developed with a degree of autonomy that reflected the limits of the colonial state in shaping the Muslim subject. In the subsequent postcolonial period, systems of patronage and clientalistic networks dominated, and Muslim leaders were co-opted by the state, but without much real interference in the day-to-day lives of ordinary Muslims. However, as part of the war on terror, the US State Department seeks to bring the mechanisms of Islamic truth production, especially the madrasa, under direct state control and civil society scrutiny. This book argues that the "Muslim domain as a separate entity is coming to an end as it is being absorbed into the civil sphere, unifying the state’s domination of society." The book also analyzes local Ugandan Muslim initiatives to modernise and contextualize their own education and religion and how these initiatives are shaped by and transcend the dominant power. A thorough exploration of US foreign policy and Islamic education, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Political Studies, African Studies and Religious Studies.
The book provides an extensive analysis of extremism, extremist narratives and counter-narratives and their role in consolidating exclusive religious, cultural and social identities in Pakistan. Focusing on the construction and institutionalization of extremist tendencies, the book studies the process of the adoption of the narrow interpretation of religion and society, which subsequently was equated with national identity. It looks at the efforts of counter-extremism narratives, which tend to focus on violent extremism while overlooking non-violent manifestations. The author highlights that the main issue with counter-narratives is the difficulty in presenting extremism and its narratives as a threat since they have been normalized with the state being part of facilitating and building them. A valuable and much-required contribution to the existing literature on extremism and narrative building in Pakistan, this book would help students, academics and policymakers in identifying the limitations of counter-narratives in Pakistan, while providing them with a detailed overview of extremism and extremist narratives. It will also be of interest to researchers studying Security Studies and Asian Politics, especially in the context of South Asia.
This is the true story of a standout artist in the field of pop and sentimental song; a star entertainer who rose to fame in Cape Town, South Africa. The world reflected in this book has several genealogical strands reaching back to other histories – to the nineteenth century theatre, to the rise of racism in South Africa, and the ways people were forced to negotiate the contradictions of being human against impossible odds. We encounter a biographer with a subject which is close to him, and which he has meticulously researched over a course of time. The book offers insights into the musical world of the phonograph, of the global popular culture after the Second World War and how this was absorbed into Cape Town’s popular culture.
This book is about a ‘Small Island’, namely Mauritius in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It is also about a ‘Large Ocean’, the Indian Ocean world—its peoples, histories and cultures. It casts light on the life of an island through what is known not only about the island itself, but also through what is known about the wider Indian Ocean world. It is also about the Indian Ocean world in that it focuses on an island, which, in many senses and dimensions, is not only a model of, but in some respects also a model for wider developments and features of relevance to the Indian Ocean world as a whole.
- there's a growing market of interest for learning about depth psychology from other than Euro-centric viewpoints - strong potential as recommended reading for sociology and anthropology studies, in addition to its wide use among the Jungian community
This book presents a comprehensive overview of current developments in Belarus. It explores how there has been an upswelling of popular support for the idea that Belarus must change. It highlights how the old regime, aiming to retain the Soviet legacy, reluctant to reform, presiding over worsening economic conditions and refusing to take measures to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, has been confronted by increasing bottom-up and horizontal social mobilisation which demands a transformation of state-society relations and a new sense of Belarusian peoplehood. The book outlines how the current situation has developed, considers how the present demands for change are deep-seated and long-brewing trends, and reveals much detail about many aspects of the growing societal mobilisation. Overall, the book demonstrates that, although the old regime remains in power, Belarusian society has changed fundamentally, thereby bringing great hope that change will eventually come about.
This book analyses the underlying communication strategies and approaches of grassroots water management practices in India through a case study-based ethnographic approach. Drawing from fieldwork experiences, this volume provides a detailed overview of Parmarth, a not-for-profit NGO, which is the case study for this research. It presents an in-depth theoretically informed analysis of data collected through multiple methods, which includes key informant interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, and document reviews, among other approaches. The book examines Parmarth's strategies and processes to mobilise women as important stakeholders in the region's water conservation initiatives. It discusses communicative actions, tactics and campaigns in water interventions and the role of various stakeholders ranging from local community members to civil society. Accessibly written, this volume is a must-read for scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, environmental communication, ecology studies, development studies, public policy, sustainable development, water management, sociology, and political science.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and challenges of intensifying groundwater irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for improving smallholder agrarian livelihoods. Only about 3% of the groundwater resources of Sub-Saharan Africa are used for irrigated agriculture despite the subcontinent’s relative abundance of groundwater. The majority of the region’s smallholders are highly dependent on seasonal dryland cropping, making them extremely vulnerable to uncertain weather patterns and droughts. Improved irrigation capabilities through sustainable groundwater development could unleash smallholder farming and make it a major driver of economic growth, poverty reduction, climate resilience, and improved food security. So, why is groundwater so underused? Tapping into groundwater requires a major shift in farming practices and it has its own challenges and requirements – smallholder access to land and finance for irrigation infrastructure and equipment, gendered and equitable adoption options. This whole list is framed in terms of what the smallholder farmers need. Hence, this should also be put in this context, supply chains, energy access, resource availability, and institutional support. The chapters in this book present a picture that is not only heterogeneous across the region, but also hold some common denominators. They serve to enrich the discourse and help better understand the barriers along the pathways toward the sustainable and transformative adoption of groundwater irrigation. The scientific information provided herein would be of interest to researchers, practitioners, decision makers and planners with interest in the region. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Water International journal. |
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